Alive And Well. E-Marketing. The Future Of Print. Transitioning To CtP.

International Publication
for the Media Arts
28
This issue’s feature
Plate Technology
6
Transitioning To CtP.
The Three Valuable Lessons.
10
CtF: Alive And Well.
12
E-Marketing.
14
The Future Of Print.
Users Tell Us Why.
Reaching Today’s Print Buyers.
Communications In The 21st Century.
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2
O L E C T E A M S W I T H A G FA T O M A X I M I S E P R E S S P E R F O R M A N C E .
High-Performance
Partnership.
As a leading producer of state-of-the-art light sources, exposure frames,
light meters, plate punch/bender and trimmer systems Olec rounds off Agfa’s
assortment to bring companies a complete solution—from think to ink.
Plate Technology
Feature
One of the things that has made
Agfa a leader in prepress is the company’s ability to provide a complete
system from document processing to
printing plate. But Agfa also knows
that the process doesn’t end with film
or platemaking. Printing plates, for
instance, still have to be bent and
prepped for the printing press. That
is why Agfa has developed a close
relationship with Olec Corporation
whose brands include Stoesser,
Pac Glass, Diamond and Teaneck.
Centerline
Imposition Control.
q
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
According to Olec the Avantra 44
makes press optimisation easy
because it exposes films on centre
with a side punch and a centre tail
pin. By adjusting the pin system for
platemaking, the operator can move
the images to the necessary image
lay back to match any press.
This flexibility reduces last-minute
makeovers to change position for
presses or sheet size. The side and
tail punch format on the Avantra 44
provides the best registration control
of any 8-up record devices on the
market, says Olec.
Centerline Control also allows plate
makers to make work and turn
and perfecting jobs just by turning
the film 180° for the second plate.
They can also expose a variety of
plate formats from one original film.
The Avantra’s Centerline Imposition
Control provides stability across the
long dimension of the film, with
the tail pin. Imposition on centre is
also universal for most post recorder
applications. This is especially
beneficial for 4-mil film users.
but also the ability to permanently
bend polyester plates with a heat
set bender in sizes from 20" to 42".
Reduced Plate
Size Inventories.
Frames.
Olec vertical drawdown vacuum
frames actually pull the glass down
to the pin system that holds the film
and plate stable. This prevents films
and plates from moving. The frames
can also be fitted with lamps
designed for a specific application—
contacting, proofing or platemaking.
Tiling Films.
Olec vertical drawdown vacuum
frames also have an adjustable pin
system, which allows users to take
4-up flats from an Avantra 30 or
Phoenix imagesetter and easily tile
two of them onto a plate for 8-up
imposition. Users can also tile 8-up
films to accommodate larger
plate sizes.
Register On
Post-Punch Output.
The Agfa Galileo’s edge register
makes precision punching and
bending easy for any press.
By using a transfer punch/trimmer
printers can accurately trim plates
to fit available presses to minimise
inventory of both conventional
and digital-imaging plates. Users
can trim plates for both size and
lay back of the different presses
allowing more flexibility without
making new plates.
Photopolymer
Exposure Frames.
Olec’s newly designed exposure
units for photopolymer plates use
a point source lamp instead of the
traditional bank-light. The result is
a sharper, more accurate final plate.
Light Meter.
The Olec “AccuMeter” reduces
set-up times, gives accurate exposure diagnostics, has a built-in
data logging feature and measures
two spectral ranges (340-390 nm,
380-420 nm in both MiliWatts and
Milijoules). ■
Polyester Plate
Punches/Benders.
To assist in registering and punching
polyester plates Olec offers not only
the accuracy of punching off line
For more information about Olec
products visit www.olec.com.
3
Marc Verbiest
mverbiest@agfapress.com
Editorial.
Plate Technology
Feature
Remarkably, few people
think about plates as high
technology. In reality plates can
make the difference between meeting a deadline and having to
turn away business. A high-quality plate not only images faster
but it can cut make ready significantly. Which saves not only time
but also cuts paper waste. And then there is the matter of ink
retention and dot gain. Both of which are directly related to plate
performance.
Production Notes.
All photography and prepress
We believe that the more you know about
various technologies, the better your pur-
using Agfa systems. The following
chasing decisions, and the more efficient your
AgfaType fonts were used:
workflow. That’s why for this issue of Interface,
Hermes and Rotis. Thermostar
we have decided to feature plates, one of the
plates imaged on Galileo Thermal
most crucial components when it comes to
using CristalRaster screening
quality and workflow optimisation.
technology. Imposition and
contract proofing with the Sherpa
digital proofing system.
In the pages that follow you’ll find a helpful
overview of various plate technologies and the
Editorial Committee:
applications for which each is best suited, as
Agfa France: Sylvie Gibout
well as some surprising market statistics. You’ll
Agfa Germany: Günter Kopp
also find a point-of-view on where the tech-
Agfa U.K.: Tim Light
nology is headed. As always, we’re rounding
Agfa Iberia: José Mª Corominas
Editor: Rosemarie Monaco
out this issue with marketing advice and a look
Managing editor: Marc Verbiest
at the future of our industry.
Associate editors:
Thank you for letting us know the topics you’d like us to address
Anne-Mie Vansteelant
in the future issues of Interface.
Bart Verduyn
Credits:
Contact mverbiest@agfapress.com ■
Design, Production and
Co-ordination: Living Stone N.V.
For more info on Agfa products:
http://www.agfa.com
Next Feature:
q Automation
4
Conventional
And DI Presses.
Plate Technology
“ … A N D T H E Y B O T H L I V E D H A P P I LY E V E R A F T E R .”
Feature
The ultimate future of offset printing is direct imaging of the printing form
on the press. This is the fastest and leanest production model for offset,
in which all the steps of the process will have been optimised as far as
possible. Apart from the technological side, there are also the economic
aspects. If the “new” process is too expensive compared with the
“dominant” process, this will prevent it from becoming generally accepted.
It was not until 1990 that a press
manufacturer first offered automatic
plate change on a sheet offset press.
Others denied the usefulness of this
innovation. Yet, in the months that
followed they worked hard on their
own solutions for semi-automatic
and automatic plate change.
Nowadays, practically all printing
presses are equipped with such
plate-change systems. Technology
simply needs a certain amount
of time to become accepted and
established.
The MAN-Roland DicoWEB.
The Heidelberg QuickMaster DI.
By Alain Vermeire.
With more than 20 years experience
as a journalist covering the graphic
arts, Alain Vermeire is editor in chief
of Belgium’s leading prepress
and printing publication “Grafisch
Nieuws/Nouvelles Graphiques”.
He is also managing editor of all ICT
(Information & Communication
Technology) titles published
by Keesing Publishing.
DI Methodologies.
Direct imaging on press can be done
in various ways. For example, on
the Heidelberg QuickMaster DI a
roll of polyester material is located
inside the plate cylinder, just like
photographic film in its roll.
This material is fed from inside
the cylinder to form the polyester
plate for waterless offset.
On the MAN-Roland DicoWEB,
imaging, erasing and exposing the
printing cylinder are all done on the
press, without using film or printing
plates. This is done by transferring
imaging material onto the surface
of the cylinder using a thermal
transfer process.
Agfa LiteSpeed is a spray technology for a plateless printing
process. In this process a polymer
coating is sprayed directly onto the
reusable substrate on the cylinder,
after which the medium is thermally
exposed in the same way as a
“normal” plate. After printing,
the LiteSpeed coating is washed
off, and then new coating can be
applied. LiteSpeed is a thermal
non-ablative process that uses a
water-based substance. CreoScitex
demonstrated this technology with
its exposure heads on a Shinohara
press in September 2000.
At Print 01, Heidelberg demonstrated a SM 74 DI with Saphira
plates. The hybrid printing technology used on this Speedmaster
can also be used to print offset
plates exposed offline. Heidelberg
is a firm believer in DI technology
with plates for its own existing
presses. “In 10 years time, DI should
become an option on all presses,
just like automatic plate changing,”
said a Heidelberg spokesperson.
In conventional DI presses, the
plates are fastened on the cylinder
and exposed, which in fact is simply
combining a CtP system with an
ordinary press. Plate-based DI
applications are a further development of conventional offset, with
the choice of plate being dependent
on the type of application. Plateless
systems in most cases will probably
be closed systems, as this is the
only way to guarantee faultless
operation.
Imaging
Front end system
Off-press
imaging
Inking
Press start-up
Dampening
Inking
Dampening
Cleaning
Inking
Printing
Dampening
Inking
Dampening
On-press
imaging
Laser
830 nm
thermal platesetter
Press start-up
Step 1: Exposure
Thermal energy fuses the thermoplastic particles to the aluminum
plate in the exposed areas.
Step 2: Dampening
The dampening rollers are applied
for a few revolutions as the
fountain solution wets the
non-image areas.
Plate mounted on press
Wetting the plate
Step 3: Cleaning
The inking rollers are applied
and remove the coating from
the non-image areas.
Step 4: Printing
At the start of printing, the ink
containing the non-image
coating is removed by the first few
press sheets.
Removing the coating
Printing
Technology
Marketing
The Economics:
Presses And Plates.
At present it is possible to expose
plates in different formats on one
and the same offline CtP system, but
this cannot be done on a DI press
where the printer is restricted to the
format of the press. Furthermore,
the time gained with DI technology
is minimal compared with presses
equipped with automatic plateloading systems. And to cap it all,
a DI press is more expensive.
There are thermal ablative and nonablative plates. Thermal non-ablative
material offers the additional advantage that no debris has to be removed.
Examples are Agfa’s Thermolite and
Heidelberg’s Saphira. Thermolite has
a conventional aluminium substrate
with a coating closely related to
LiteSpeed. The latter is non-ablative,
and can also be applied on other
hydrophilic substrates. It is therefore
not restricted to the plate as a physical medium—the medium can just as
easily be a sleeve.
The fount and inking systems on
the printing press play an active role
in the processing of Thermolite and
Saphira. Depending on the paper and
the printing conditions, run lengths
of about 25,000 are currently possible, and double this should be possible in the near future. However, the
price of the plate is still about 50%
more than for a processless thermal
plate at the moment.
Conventional Longevity.
The first digital plate, the N90 from
Hoechst, was demonstrated as a
prototype at Drupa 1990. At Drupa
1995, the range of computer-to-plate
systems shown was overwhelming,
but sales got off to a slow start.
At that time, few printers were
interested in an expensive technology that had still not proved
its worth. It was not until
Drupa 2000 that investments in
CtP systems on a larger scale were
considered.
DI presses were offered by several
manufacturers at both Drupa 2000
and Print 01. However, press manufacturers also demonstrated how
changing plates for a new job in
combination with CtP could be
completed in 15 minutes. This
means that the days of the conventional press are far from being
numbered, and neither are those
of offline CtP systems. ■
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
t
6
Transitioning To CtP.
I N T H R E E VA L U A B L E L E S S O N S .
Full-service printing company, Kölnermedienfabrik
made the transition from conventional processes to an
all-digital computer-to-plate workflow in three steps—
computer-to-film, workflow digitisation, computer-toplate. With high-volume demands for both commercial
and package printing, the Cologne, Germany based
printer opted for an 8-up violet-laser system.
Plate Technology
Feature
Those responsible for the CtP project (from left to right): Guido Walter, Ulrich Carthaus and
Jürgen Kühn of Agfa Germany.
About four years ago, Kölnermedienfabrik installed its first CtF
system, an Avantra 44 imagesetter
with online processor. The large
format, says managing director
Ulrich Carthaus, allowed the company to produce fully imposed
Operators feed new violet plates into the Galileo.
forms without manual paste-up,
providing a valuable first lesson in
the road to digitisation. Seeing the
immediate benefit of going directly
to film opened the door to the next
step-saving possibility—going
directly to plate. “But at the time,
we considered that the technology
was still not sufficiently advanced,”
recalls Carthaus. “Only a few
customers were able to supply
material in digital form then, so
we would have been forced to
digitise too many documents.”
The Galileo Violet internal drum CtP platesetter uses a long-life violet
laser diode with a wavelength of 410 nm.
The violet laser diode permits exposure
speeds of up to 3,173 cm2 per minute.
Technology
Marketing
Building A Digital
Infrastructure.
Kölnermedienfabrik took its next
step towards CtP with the installation of a complete Apogee workflow.
For Carthaus, the advantages of the
Apogee Pilot production manager
are its great user-friendliness and
its production reliability. The prepress operators are able to work
continuously, producing jobs one
after the other. Customer data can
be preflighted visually after being
normalised to PDF files, so most
errors are caught very early in the
workflow.
After being RIPped, the final
job data is sent to the Apogee
PrintDrive output manager, where
it is stored until being exposed on
film or plate. As far as Carthaus is
concerned, PrintDrive is the highlight of the entire digital workflow.
“Apart from the high flexibility and
productivity, it offers us a degree of
reliability we have never had before.
We are now able to check the content as if we had a printed example,”
he says.
With the composite workflow, the
company had been able to minimise
most of the uncertainties with
trapping and colour matching.
And since the proofs are now produced with the same RIPped data
that is used to expose the plate
or film afterwards, all doubts are
eliminated.
The company also has more flexibility in dealing with last-minute
customer corrections. If there are
last minute changes, only the
corresponding page has to be
corrected and RIPped again.
Choosing The
Right CtP Technology.
After looking at all the possibilities,
violet-laser technology seemed to be
the most promising, because of its
high exposure speed and economy.
“Agfa convinced us with its highly
productive, fully automatic ‘Apogeeready’ systems. We decided in
favour of the Agfa Galileo VS and
the Lithostar Ultra-V plate,” says
Carthaus.
“We carried out a few tests, corrected the positioning of the plate
and adjusted a few parameters such
as the compensation curves, and
were able to continue without a
hitch,” says Carthaus.
Kölnermedienfabrik now produces
more than 80% of its printing plates
on the Agfa Galileo VS. “Exposing
directly to the printing plate enables
us to work significantly faster and
more reliably, but with the same
high quality,” says Carthaus.
“Problems like vacuum spots are a
thing of the past—there are hardly
any faults now.”
Carthaus also testifies to the wide
user latitude of the Agfa Lithostar
Ultra-V printing plates, which
reduces the risk of plate damage
to a minimum. The plates can be
processed under daylight conditions
and the exposure time is very short,
so there is no barrier to the high
productivity of the Galileo system.
They also behave perfectly well on
the printing press. “For our printers,
the first digitally-exposed plate was
a printing plate just like any other,”
says Carthaus.
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
“For our printers,
the first digitallyexposed plate was
a printing plate just
like any other.”
According to Carthaus production
has been going so smoothly that
the company has not even had to
call on its Agfa Odyssey remote
diagnostic system. “And if we do
run into difficulty, we know from
experience that we can count on
rapid help from Agfa Support,”
he says.
The next step in digitising the prepress workflow at Kölnermedienfabrik will be to connect the printing
press to the CIP3 interface, InkDrive,
an option for the Apogee. ■
t
8
C H O O S I N G T H E R I G H T T E C H N O L O G Y.
Plate Options.
Unquestionably CtP (computer-to-plate) technology has become mainstream. But technology is
never simple. Digital-plate technology varies from visible-light diode to thermal imaging, from
plates that offer dry processing to those that require no processing at all. Understanding a little
about the various plate technologies will help you to select the right system for your application.
The CtP market
can look confusFeature
ing with different technologies
appearing to compete with each
other. In reality the technology is
broadly split into two main categories: Visible light or thermal CtP.
Plate Technology
The difference is simply the laser
wavelength used to expose the plates,
and depending on the application
there will be a different emphasis
placed on variables such as quality,
cost, speed, run length etc.
CtP Momentum.
The year 2000 proved to be a
defining year for CtP. Digital technologies were adopted in unprecedented volumes, and CtP was seen
as a mature, viable technology for
How LiteSpeed Works.
The LiteSpeed coating is sprayed onto a hydrophilic surface
(1), e.g. a normal anodised offset plate (2).
The coating, which is thinner than one micrometre, is imaged
with an 830 nm laser diode.
The printing areas are melted at a temperature of around
100°C, without chemical cross-linking (3).
When the press starts up, the damping roller must first make
contact for 15 or so revolutions with the printing cylinder in
order to moisten the surface (4).
When the inking roller then starts to operate, it strips the
coating away from the non-printing areas in a few revolutions and transfers it to the paper (5).
No contamination of the fountain solution or inking system
takes place.
printers in all the different print
segments. Worldwide, CtP sales were
approximately 40–50 million m2—
with Agfa achieving approx. a 50%
market share.
CtP technologies, analogue plates
are still the main plate technology
used today. During 2000, analogue
plates accounted for 85%–90% of
all printing plates sold worldwide.
CtP growth continued in 2001 with
Violet technology attaining the
strongest gains. We expect continued growth in 2002 in newspaper
and commercial CtP in all three key
technologies –silver, thermal and
photopolymer– and with Violet
taking the lead among companies
newly adopting CtP. Within the
next three years the worldwide CtP
market is expected to double in size,
and continue to grow after that.
Analogue plates are made by contact exposure with rapid access/hard
dot films in combination with a
powerful UV light source.
Analogue Mainstay.
Digital Plate Technology.
Despite the growing importance of
digital workflows and the success of
Silver halide is a multi purpose plate
for commercial and newspaper
applications. Silver halide uses
extremely light sensitive coatings,
similar in some respects to the technology used in imagesetter films.
The technology is proven, stable
and predictable.
The success of analogue technologies lies in the many years of
consistent performance in all
types of presses, all over the world.
Analogue plate markets are actually
growing strongly in some regions,
such as Asia.
Silver based plates can be exposed
by the latest low cost, long life,
violet diode based platesetters. Many
CtP users choose violet technology
because of its high-speed imaging
and low platesetter costs.
The recent emergence of Violet laser
diodes has added extra momentum
to this exciting technology. Violet
laser diodes are a compact and low
cost light source that is a technology
spin-off from the DVD industry.
Violet plates can be handled in
near-daylight conditions.
As CtP moves down market with
smaller, lower cost devices, the
Over view Of Agfa Plate Technologies.
Plate
Description
Features
Popular With
Meridian P5S
Conventional, positive.
Wide user latitude and high quality
capability.
Typically used by high quality sheet fed printers producing high quality
work such as advertising, brochures, and all types of prestigious colour
printing.
Meridian P450
Conventional, positive.
Electrochemically grained and anodised.
Good resolution, strong colour change
on exposure, wide latitude.
Designed to meet the needs of commercial printing environment where
high productivity, ease of use and reliabiity are key. Used by small offset,
commercial sheet and web as well as forms printers.
Zenith N550
Conventional, negative.
Fast exposure speed, multi-purpose
negative plate popular in different
applications.
Everything from forms printers, to general commercial web and heatset,
and newspapers. Robust performance and wide fitting specification.
Zenith N61
Conventional, negative.
Robust, durable with excellent
reputation.
Used widely in newspapers with excellent results. Wide tonal range also
allows use in higher quality applications such as UV work.
Thermostar
Digital, positive working,
exposable by 830 nm or
1064 nm lasers.
Very high resolution, daylight operation,
bakeable plate technology for the most
demanding press conditions.
Commercial printers of all types. Thermostar has set new standards for
thermal plate technology and has been most successfully used in the
8-up and VLF areas.
N91
Digital, negative working,
exposable on 532 nm FD
YAG CtP systems.
Durable, predictable and reliable press
performance with wide latitude in use.
Resolution somewhat lower than thermal
and silver halide CtP.
N91 has seen highest popularity with newspaper printers where the plate
properties exactly match the most important features on any CtP newspaper printers wish list.
Lithostar Ultra
Digital, positive working.
Exposable by green, violet
or red lasers.
Fast exposure, simple processing,
wide compatibility with a wide range
of platesetter devices.
Newspapers and commercial printers covering anything from 2-up to
8-up. High resolutions coupled with fast imaging make Lithostar a
popular choice with a broad range of printers.
SF1 PE
Conventional, negative.
Fast exposure, hard dots. Simple
processing. Resistant to tearing and
cracking on press due to special alloy.
Made in North America for the North American market. Wide latitude
in use, wide tonal range and robust performance over different
applications.
Technology
Marketing
violet-diode phenomenon continues
to fuel CtP adoption. The success of
the violet diode is not just limited to
the smaller CtP device; violet diodes
have been successful in everything
from 8-up systems to newspaper
exposure devices.
Photopolymer has a reputation
for providing a robust press performance, tolerating a wide variety of
press conditions.
Thermal plates, capable of high
resolution and excellent press
performance, have very quickly
established themselves as the most
versatile and robust digital plate
technology available today. Thermal
imaging, however, requires plate
technologies that need exposure
energies thousands of times higher
than those required for silver or
photopolymer plates.
Thermal plates can be baked for longrun printing. Certain requirements,
such as the UV inks used by some
package printers, also require baked
plates. For these applications thermal
technology is the preferred solution.
Processing:
Wet, Dr y Or None At All.
One of the greatest benefits of CtP
is the elimination of the film intermediary. No more dot degradation
and no more messy, smelly chemicals. Most plates, however, whether
analogue or digitally imaged, still
require chemical processing.
There are some exceptions to this
rule. Process-free thermal imaging
is a subject that has been widely
debated. Elimination of the chemical
development removes a variable from
the process and is rightly seen by
many as a very attractive customer
benefit. Does this mean that some
day, all CtP will be process free?
Possibly, but most probably processfree plates will co-exist alongside
the existing (wet processed) plates.
One example of a plate that requires
no processing at all is Agfa’s
Thermolite. Thermolite may be
exposed either on or off press
using thermal lasers. The removal
of non-image areas is done on
press by the inking rollers.
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
Other Innovations
From Agfa.
Agfa’s Thermostar is a thermal
plate that offers a simple processing
system and does not require preheating. The plates are processed
in a standard processor used for
positive presensitised plates under
full daylight conditions.
LiteSpeed is an innovative liquid
coating that is applied on press
to a reusable metal substrate
and then digitally imaged.
The patented formula is based
on Agfa’s Thermolite plate technology. It is non-ablative and
requires no chemical processing.
Performance on press is equal
to a conventional lithographic
printing plate, with a run length
of 20,000 impressions. ■
LiteSpeed liquid
coating is applied on
press to a reusable
metal substrate
and then digitally
imaged.
t
10
By Knud Wasserman.
U S E R S T E L L U S W H Y.
Knud Wasserman is a prepress and printing
technology expert and the managing director
of the bw-works full-service agency in Vienna,
Austria. As an author, he specialises in
publishing and information technology.
CtF:
Alive And Well.
Users now have a wide range of technical options open to
them on the way to the printing plate. Although Computerto-Plate undoubtedly represents the most technologically
advanced of these, many companies continue to rely on tried
and tested film. Interface guest editor Knud Wasserman
spoke to users in Europe about how they see the future of
computer-to-film.
Computer-to-Plate (CtP) was a
logical development of Computerto-Film (CtF), and as such it has
established itself very rapidly in
the past few years. Based on the
demand, Agfa has more than
quadrupled its sales of CtP plates
in Europe over the past three years.
However, this does not mean to say
that film is dead. On the contrary,
in 2000, an estimated 600 or more
8-up CtF systems were sold in
Europe, and more than 1,000 4-up
systems. Sales in 2001 were similar,
and so Agfa is continuing to invest
considerable amounts in R&D for
graphic film and accompanying
exposure systems.
Investment decisions by users are
not determined simply by the availability of a particular technology;
in the final analysis they are determined by market demand, the type
of work that has to be done, the
existing work processes, the capital
costs and the operating costs. All
these aspects may plead in favour of
CtF, depending on the approach of
the individual company concerned.
essential intermediate step on
the way to direct plate exposure.
“Somebody who tries to introduce
CtP without mastering Computerto-Film first is doomed to failure,”
he says. “CtF is the ideal method for
training in the use of digital data,
and to become familiar with the
digital workflow and all its pitfalls.
The experience gained in this way
makes it easier to switch over to
CtP at a later stage.”
An Essential
Intermediate Step.
Short Learning Cur ve.
Ulf Walter, general manager of the
Weitzer & Partner prepress company
in Graz, Austria, sees CtF as an
Sven Linke is assistant manager
at the Rademann company
in Lüdinghausen, Germany.
11
In February last year he implemented a CtF solution, seeing it
as the ideal way for his employees
to become acquainted with digital
imposition. “If something goes
wrong with a film it's no big deal,
which is a considerable advantage
especially during the learning stage.
However, we were pleasantly surprised to find how quickly we were
able to produce print-ready output.
The intuitive user interface of the
Apogee workflow management
system made an important contribution to this.” Rademann uses
the Apogee system to drive an
Avantra 25 for 4-up imposition
forms and an Avantra 44 for 8-up
forms.
Film Enables Flexibility.
For Weitzer & Partner, CtF is currently the optimum solution. “As a
pure prepress company we are not
able to supply all the different plate
formats required by our customers,
in particular all the register punch
patterns. Print-ready exposure on
film gives us the flexibility to cover
the various format requirements
of the printing shops. Furthermore,
if the worst comes to the worst,
the printers can quickly turn out
a replacement plate themselves.”
This question of being able to obtain
replacement plates whenever necessary currently deters many printers
from entrusting plate exposure to a
service provider.
For companies that are dependent
on using film archives or supplied
film, CtF offers the possibility of
incorporating film in the workflow
at a relatively low cost, without redigitisation. Andrew Gunn of B•A•S
Printers in Stockbridge, UK, is confronted by the challenge of using
pre-existing film for a large number
of jobs. “Re-digitising such a large
quantity of film is economically just
not feasible, at least for the moment.
And in any case, customers are
generally unwilling to pay for this
service,” he explains.
The Strobel printing company in
Arnsberg, Germany, is faced with
a similar situation. It produces a
whole series of specialist magazines
dealing with sanitary equipment,
heating, air-conditioning, home
automation and energy control
for its main customer, the Strobel
publishing company.
Two thirds of the advertisements for
the various publications are supplied
in analogue form, i.e. as film.
“I worked it out and came to the
conclusion that re-digitising the
advertisements would take too
much time, and so would be too
expensive,” says manager Peter
Tack. “We therefore decided to go
for a CtF solution consisting of an
Avantra 30 with Apogee workflow.”
Faster Depreciation.
Isaac Rodriguez Montero, manager
of the Sisdigraf prepress service
provider in Barcelona, continues
to prefer print-ready film exposure
for purely economic reasons.
“With the very intense competition
in Spain at the moment it is difficult to make a CtP system pay
for itself. For this very reason,
we have actually increased our
use of Computer-to-Film. In April
we installed a second Avantra 44
film recorder with a complete
Apogee workflow system.” In the
experience of Sisdigraf, the payback period for a CtF system is
one year. A CtP system would take
about three years to pay for itself,
according to Isaac Rodriguez
Montero. “The pay-back period
is of course somewhat longer for
a pure prepress company, since
unlike a printing company we
don't save an imposition operator,”
he concludes.
Simple Economics.
Manfred Edelbacher Jr. of the
Edelbacher printing company in
Vienna argues similarly. The company has been using a CtF workflow
since 1993, producing around
12,000 4-up and 8-up plates per
year. “Given our organisation, a
CtP system and the corresponding
plates would still be too expensive,
and so computer-to-film is the most
appropriate for us in economic
terms at present.
Sven Linke of Rademann is convinced that a CtF solution like the
Avantra can still compete with
a CtP system in economic terms.
“However, the advantage will
increasingly shift towards CtP in
future. For this reason we took a
two-year option to exchange the
two Avantra film recorders for a
Galileo CtP system.” The question
of whether a particular solution
is economic is a very tricky one,
which every company has to
solve for itself. Nevertheless,
computer-to-film still seems
to be an interesting option for
small and medium-sized printing
companies in particular.
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
Speed.
A Strong Argument.
A CtF workflow can generates a
lasting increase in productivity.
The Strobel printing company, for
example, has reduced its lead times
by a factor of five. The print-ready
output also has positive effects on
the printing press. “Since we started
producing imposed signatures with
the Avantra 30, we have been able
to cut the press set-up times dramatically. This has been very useful
in enabling us to produce smaller
and smaller runs economically,”
explains Peter Tack.
Award-Winning Quality.
In terms of quality, it is extremely
important for any printer to reduce
the number of intermediate steps
in plate production. CtP is of
course the ultimate in this respect.
Nevertheless, it is still possible to
produce absolutely top-notch results
with a CtF workflow, as demonstrated by the awards won by
B•A•S Printers and Edelbacher.
B•A•S Printers, which specialises
in art printing, won the “Fine Art
Printer of the Year” and “Book
Printer of the Year” categories at
the PrintWeek Awards in 2000.
“Our switch to CtF three years
ago brought a huge improvement
in quality,” says Andrew Gunn.
“In the specialised field of art
printing, quality plays an essential
role, especially the colour fidelity.”
The Edelbacher printing company
for its part, another long-term CtF
user, won a bronze medal in this
year’s Sappi Europe Awards. ■
Ulf Walter, general
manager of the
Weitzer & Partner
prepress company in
Graz, Austria.
Manfred Edelbacher
Jr. of the Edelbacher
printing company in
Vienna.
t
12
R E A C H I N G T O D AY ’ S P R I N T B U Y E R S .
E-Marketing.
You cannot demonstrate your printing capabilities in an email. You need
hard copy for that. But the experts say that your brochure is more likely
to end up in the dustbin than in front of the print buyer, and that today
email is the most effective way of getting a buyer’s attention. What’s a
print marketer to do?
One of the most important rules
for effective marketing is “know
your audience”. You wouldn’t
have much success selling cars
to animal-rights activists if the
supermodel in your advertisement
is wearing a fur coat. Another
example that is closer to home and
not as obvious would be telling
print buyers that you have high
productivity. It would be far more
meaningful to them if you can
simply deliver the job faster.
In other words, you need to push
the buyers’ hot buttons not your
own. Use language they can
understand immediately and
which requires no interpretation.
13
E-marketing: The Stats.
As a loyalty device, email clicks with customers, 88% of whom say they have made a
purchase as a result of receiving a permission-based electronic message, according to
a recent US survey from DoubleClick.
Even more dramatic, 37% said they made a purchase after clicking through an email solicitation, according to Court Cunningham, vice president and general manager of DoubleClick
unit DARTmail technology online advertising company, which sponsored the research.
Email use in general is up, with consumers receiving 159 messages a week, 45 of which are
business related. Among all email messages, an average of 36 are permission-based, twice
the prior year’s number.
Another DoubleClick study, conducted by Ecom Interaction and Benchmark research, reveals
that nearly half of European marketers (46%) are engaging in online marketing as part of
them the option of “opting out”
or removing their names from
your database.
Keep the message short. No more
than one paragraph with a
high-impact message and one or
two lines only about who you are
and what you do.
Make an offer that represents value
to the buyer. Take off your printer’s
hat and put yourself in the buyers’
shoes. Ask yourself what you can
offer to solve a problem or make
their lives easier and more
rewarding.
their marketing strategy. Marketers in the United Kingdom and Spain are ahead of the pack
with 73% and 66%, respectively, engaging in online marketing.
European marketers are involved in email marketing more than any other form of online
marketing. Data from this study shows that 31% of European marketers participate in email
marketing, whereas 27% are engaging in targeted banner advertising.
2%
13%
31%
Email marketing
Targeted banners
3%
Newsletters
Website
24%
Other
27%
Include a live link. If your message
is powerful it will elicit immediate
action. Let the link click them to
your Website or to a page where
they can register for the special
offer. This will also allow you to
add profiling information to your
database.
Tell them to look in their mailbox
for a special offer and a sample of
your capabilities.
Getting Them To Drink.
Didn’t respond
Now you’ve got their attention,
it’s time to show them your stuff.
Time your email to reach the buyers
a few days before they receive your
brochure in the mail.
Reaching The
Target Audience.
The other side of the “audience”
coin is knowing how best to reach
your target. We used to ask: Which
publications do they read? Today,
the better question is how do print
buyers receive their information?
Email is rapidly replacing the
phone and postal service as the
primary source of communication
in the business place. Statistics
confirm permission-based or opt-in
email marketing as fast becoming
the most effective medium in the
quest to manage information
overload.
Leading Them To Water.
If the most powerful way to a
buyer’s eyes these days is through
email, than email marketing needs
to be included in your marketing
strategy. There are a few simple
rules for email marketing that
assure its effectiveness.
“There are a
few simple
rules for email
marketing that
assure its
effectiveness.”
If your list is not already qualified
as permission-based, than you must
let the recipients know that you
received their names as individuals
who might be interested in getting
information from you and give
Use the same graphics or repeat
the headline you used in the email;
this will increase recognition.
Refer to the email and repeat the
offer. Now you can provide more
detail and demonstrate your
printing prowess.
New Rules For The
“E” Generation.
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
User Profile
Using the most effective medium is
essential to successful marketing.
If the medium doesn’t allow you
to demonstrate your work, then
use it to pull their attention toward
the medium that does.
Rely on proven statistics. It is truer
today than ever before that in a
world cluttered with information,
frequency is important. Keep
the emails and postal mailers
ongoing. Vary the message but
maintain your company or “brand”
identification. ■
Product News
t
14
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S I N T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y.
The Future Of Print.
While the subject may already seem exhausted, there is none more relevant to our industry
than the role of print in the 21st Century. We cannot ignore the inevitable and must consider
how print will change if we are to plan business growth. The following data was taken from
a research report “Printing in the Age of the Web & Beyond” prepared by The Electronic
Document Systems Foundation (EDSF).
According to the EDSF a major
objective of its research was to
describe what people might be doing
in the future in regard to printed or
electronic documents, by comparing
their responses to various demographic and technological trends.
Following are some key opinions
extrapolated from “Printing in the
Age of the Web and Beyond”.
Periodicals.
Magazines and journals will see
some advertising move away from
print. Since advertising drives the
number of periodical pages, the loss
of one ad page equals the loss of
an editorial page. As promotion
budgets are reallocated to
accommodate the Internet, magazines will see a reduction in their
page volume.
The printed periodical and the
Internet will work together in the
future as new revenue models
evolve. One will not replace the
other.
Print-on-demand for selected
articles will take place in bookstores
and business/home locations.
Some print volume will shift from
the factory to the home or office.
Elec
tron
ic
65%
52%
30%
70%
1995
Print
48%
2010
35%
2020
Source: RIT analysis (Rochester Institute Of Technology).
Newspapers will have to expand
demographic coverage in order
to retain the promotional
circular/insert component of
their advertising.
To increase revenue, newspapers
are installing colour printing
presses to produce more value-added
colour advertising and provide a
more consumer-oriented product.
Direct Marketing.
Magazines printing will move from
centralised manufacturing plants to
points closer to the customer. ATMs
for periodical printing will evolve so
that readers can have certain issues,
articles or combinations of issues
and articles printed on-demand or
downloaded to an e-reader.
Newspapers.
Percent of information: print versus electronic
form 1995-2020. Print volume grows, market
share decreases.
they will opt for in-depth and
local-market area-coverage.
Newspapers will experience a significant drop in volume. The Internet
in terms of immediacy and comprehensiveness challenges newspapers,
as well as advertising. The Web is
already a major channel for classified ads. As long as newspapers can
retain their market coverage, they
can derive revenue from ad circulars, flyers and other advertising
inserts. But, overall, newspapers
face the greatest challenge in the
new media age.
Newspapers will continue to compete with other media for news
dissemination. Since newspapers
cannot provide the immediacy that
broadcast media or the Internet can,
Direct mail marketing will grow
slightly. It is a push promotion
medium that can target audiences
and is independent of technology.
It is the most democratic promotional channel since it can provide
total coverage by geography or demography. Personalised promotions
will be the norm as vendors develop
more finely tuned approaches to
relationship marketing. Postal rate
increases will force direct marketers
to find alternative channels.
Mass mailings will continue. Until
everyone has access to the same
electronic data, there is no other
way to reach a large audience.
Direct mail is “democratic”.
By 2010, e-mail and physical mail
locations will be linked, which will
then usher in a new direct e-mail
market.
The postal database will be the
national repository of street and
e-mail addresses so that crossmedia mailings can be made.
Internet Usage…
The Never-ending Story.
So far, the US has led the way in
internet usage and e-commerce.
But the tides are already turning.
US dominance will diminish as the
millions
650
European, Asian and Latin American
600
internet economies expand.
550
By 2002, Europe will have more
500
450
internet users than any other
400
single region.
350
300
North America
250
Even the predominance of the
Europe
200
English language online will decline.
Asia/Pacific Rim
150
Latin America
100
Today, 48% of Web users are
Africa and the Middle East
50
English speaking. Although English
0
Worldwide Total
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
year
will most likely remain the language
Active adult internet users aged 14+ worldwide, 2000-2004 (in millions).
of global business, within the next
few years the majority of internet
users will speak another language.
200
150
100
Source: eMarketer’s eGlobal Report.
(www.emarketer.com )
50
0
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
2060
2070
2080
2090
2100
Print is expected to
grow until 20402050 and then see
a gradual decline.
Print will not
disappear.
Source: RIT analysis (Rochester Institute Of Technology).
Packaging.
This is a major growth area since
there are no electronic alternatives
to packaging. Look for shorter runs
of geographic and demographic
labels and packaging.
Changes in regulations will
necessitate continued changes
in packaging, as well as changes
in marketing and products.
E-commerce will cause a growth
in packaging since the goods
purchased online will have to be
shipped in something.
Packaging has no electronic competitor and will grow significantly
through 2020 and beyond.
Worldwide, lithographic and flexographic presses print seven million
square metres of labels. By 2020,
30 percent or more of this volume
will be printed digitally.
Regulatory requirements for nutritional information and regionalised
packaging will keep this segment
in a growth mode for more than
20 years as packages are revised
and reprinted.
Advertising.
Advertising and promotional
materials –for example, brochures
and flyers– will see some of the
strongest growth in the print
industry. Most print is produced
because someone wants to sell
something to someone else. There
is no major electronic replacement
projected for advertising.
Printed advertising and promotional
materials will continue to grow in
volume through 2020 and probably
beyond.
A major competitor to offset-based
advertising printing will be increasingly higher quality colour printers,
both inkjet and toner. This will
allow stores and other locations
to print the materials themselves,
on demand.
The creative community will
require a move to six-colour
printing and other high-fidelity
colour approaches along with
varnish and lamination operations.
High-quality colour printing will
continue well into the century.
A Final Opinion.
Typographic documents printed on
paper will co-exist and co-evolve
with digital documents on electronic
displays well into the future.
The question may not be whether
the information is printed on paper,
but whether it is typographic,
as opposed to audio and video. ■
To purchase the full report or for
more information contact EDSF.
Telephone: +1-310-791-9521
+1-310-541-1481
Fax: +1-310-375-4240
Email: info@edsf.org
Web site: www.edsf.org
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
User Profile
Product News
t
16
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
User Profile
q
Product News
Grand Sherpa Hi-Res
InkJet Proofing System.
Open Access For Proofing
Non-Agfa Formats.
Graphic Centre to show users how they can make
the transition to new technologies. ■
Running on the system’s Proofer RIP, Open Access
accepts most legacy file formats and converts those
to a Postscript or PDF file for output on any Agfa
Sherpa proofer. This allows the Sherpa to integrate
easily into most non-Agfa workflows and handle
third-party files such as Heidelberg Delta List,
Scitex CT/LW or Harlequin ScriptWorks bitmaps.
The Apogee Proofer RIP then applies colourmanagement profiles to ensure absolute colour
accuracy for contract proofing applications.
Agfa Open Access preserves absolute data
integrity by applying a PDF or PostScript wrapper
around the RIPped content. In this way, the original
file can travel intact through the workflow as an
industry-standard open format. Agfa Open Access
also preserves the spot colours in the original file,
thus taking advantage of the Pantone libraries and
custom colours defined in Lab values in the Apogee
Proofing RIP.
Open Access accepts Heidelberg, Scitex and
Harlequin files in an unscreened, un-rendered
format. The Agfa Proofer RIP can then render and
colour manage the proprietary data for optimum
output on the AgfaJet Sherpa.
HotFolder technology lets the Sherpa integrate
easily in any Windows 2000 or Windows NT network. The Sherpa can also be configured into Unixbased networks. Agfa developed Open Access to
provide all print providers Sherpa’s affordable, highquality digital contract colour proofing capability. ■
Sublima Patented
Screening Technology.
Agfa CtP Centre In Offenbach.
Agfa’s Marc Elsermans cuts the ribbon at
the Agfa CtP Centre at MAN Roland.
The Agfa CtP (computer-to-plate) Technology
Centre at the MAN Roland Graphic Centre in
Offenbach, Germany is an ultra-modern, high-tech
centre. Agfa digital prepress solutions are demonstrated under real operating conditions to show
how state-of-the-art prepress systems can address
current workflow issues.
Agfa’s experts have installed a prepress network
that fully exploits what is technically feasible today.
To address businesses of every size, Agfa took the
requirements of various companies into account
when designing the centre.
Prepress production is controlled by the latest
version of the PDF-based workflow management
system Agfa Apogee. Another important field at
the new Agfa CtP Technology Centre is proofing
in digital workflows. Here, Agfa demonstrates the
latest options for contract and imposition. Via the
InkDrive CIP3 interface of the Apogee Series 2
PrintDrive, the Agfa prepress workflow is linked to
MAN Roland’s PECOM press control, so that the inkkey settings for the presses can be transferred directly.
Agfa and MAN Roland will continue to present
their latest products, systems and solutions at the
Sublima is a hybrid screening technology for
newspaper printing. Agfa’s patented technology
combines stochastic screening (frequency
modulation) techniques with Agfa’s Balanced
Screening to deliver a continuous-tone quality,
never before available specifically for high-speed
newspaper printing.
Agfa factored three things into the development of Sublima—the characteristics of newsprint
stock, the standard 85 to 100 line-screen ruling,
and the high-speed of newspaper presses. Using
the experience gained with its CristalRaster
stochastic screening technology, used primarily
by commercial printers, and its industry-standard
ABS (Agfa Balanced Screening), Agfa formulated
photo-quality screening that works within the
specific conditions of the newspaper environment.
Agfa Sublima delivers a 1 to 99% dot reproduction. It reproduces black and white and colour
images, line drawings and logos with finer detail
in highlight, shadow and midtone areas. It delivers
a level of print quality on conventional newspaper
stock that mimics commercial printing. ■
JDF-Compliant Apogee Series3.
Apogee Series3 offers a more advanced level of
automation, control, openness, scalability, and ease
of use. As one of the initiators of the Job Definition
Format (JDF) standard, Agfa enables JDF import
into Apogee Series3 to further expand and
streamline workflow. Apogee’s scalability
enhancements let any size organisation –from a
small printing shop to a global operation– benefit
from workflow automation.
Because Agfa designed and developed Apogee
in close cooperation with customers and partners,
Series3 includes a wide range of customer-driven
enhancements such as flexible process control and
automation. Load balancing can be designated
with ease for any task from input to rasterizing to
proofing to output. Site to site transfer of digital
film becomes as straightforward as sending jobs
to a local output device. Apogee also offers the
flexibility of working with full flats or a late binding
page-based workflow to accommodate different
work styles and production requirements. To help
minimize the risk of errors and responsibility,
Agfa has integrated Enfocus’ latest ‘Certified PDF’,
enabling everyone in the production chain to find
out by whom and with which profile PDF’s were
preflighted, or which changes were made.
Apogee Series3 enhances Apogee Pilot
production manager by adding JDF specifications.
Reply Fax
17
JDF is a set of open, extensible, XML-based job
ticket standards that create a flexible, comprehensive solution for the entire workflow. JDF
links Management Information Systems (MIS)
groups and solutions with the print production
area. ■
Name:
Company:
Street:
N°:
City:
Grand Sherpa Hi-Res
InkJet Proofing System.
The Grand Sherpa is the first in its class with true
1440 x 1440-dpi resolution, variable dot size, eightcolour capacity, and two-minute print speed. Agfa
adds improved colour-management software, a
quality-management system and workflow integration software to extend the systems capabilities
even further. In addition to features that represent
a breakthrough in inkjet quality, the Grand Sherpa
is priced at a fraction of what systems offering this
level of quality currently cost.
The Grand Sherpa uses multi-density, drop-ondemand piezo-electric technology. Agfa configures
the system with six ink cassettes –CCMMYK– four
process colours, a light cyan and light magenta.
The multi-density inks offer better ink-blending and
widen the colour gamut to more accurately match
difficult colours such as flesh tones. The system
matches over 85% of PANTONE spot colours and
special logo colours. The two additional ink slots in
the Grand Sherpa can be used for CCMMYYKK for
high speed imposition proofing.
The Grand Sherpa prints at two high-resolutions for contract proofing—1440 x 1440 and
720 x 720 dpi, and a faster 360 x 360 for imposition proofing. Printing speed is two minutes for a
33 x 47-inch (A0) form at 360 dpi. Precision media
transport assures exact registration. The media
heads adjust to accommodate a wide variety of
media from .1 to 2.2 mm-thick.
The Apogee Proofer RIP, which is Adobe
PostScript 3, provides automatic queuing and
spooling, handles composite or pre-separated files
and in an Apogee workflow provides absolute
digital file integrity.
The Grand Sherpa will be available in three
sizes—50 inches (1273 mm) 64 inches (1653 mm)
and 87 inches (2240 mm). Systems will be ready
for shipment in Q1 2002. ■
Agfa Builds Plate Plant In Asia.
Agfa is investing in a new production line in China,
operational by mid 2003, that will produce printing
plates for the Asian market. The demand for analogue printing plates in Europe is declining more
rapidly than expected. This contrasts with the Far
East where demand is stable. The investment in a
new production line in Wuxi (China) would improve
Agfa’s efficiency in plate manufacturing for the
Asian markets. ■
Phone:
Fax:
Your Agfa dealer:
Information request for:
❏ Apogee publishing production system
❏ IntelliNet Newsflow for newspapers
❏ RIPs
❏ CtP systems for newspapers
❏ CtP systems (4-up)
❏ CtP systems (8-up)
❏ CtP systems (large-format)
❏ Digital offset plates
❏ Analogue offset plates
❏ Sherpa proofing systems
❏ Agfajet inkjet media
❏ Analogue proofing systems
❏ Imagesetters and film (CtF)
❏ Agfa screening technologies
❏ Colour-management/separation software
❏ Ecology systems
❏ Agfa Educational Publications
❏ AgfaScan scanners
❏ I would like a demo of: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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AGFA, the Agfa-Rhombus and AgfaJet are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert AG, Germany. Sherpa, AgfaScan, Alliance,
Avantra, ColorTune, CristalRaster, FotoTune, Galileo, ImPower, IntelliNet, Lithostar, Polaris and Thermostar are trademarks
of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Belgium. PostScript, Acrobat, PDF, PageMaker and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems,
Inc. which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks are held by their respective companies and are
used in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement.
18
ColorTune Pro 4.0 CMS.
Screened Proofs For Newspapers.
Agfa Balanced Screening (ABS) for newspaper
proofing generates screened colour proofs with the
Agfa Sherpa 6-colour inkjet system. The dots used
in newspaper printing are simulated on inkjet proof
using ABS 85 or 100 lpi (lines per inch). In addition
to more accurately representing the screened
quality of newspaper printing, ABS makes it
possible to predict scan as well as subject moiré.
With the ABS option, Agfa gives users the flexibility
of choosing between error-diffused screening and
ABS technology. They can switch from one to the
other depending on the specific need.
The Agfa Sherpa digital proofing system using
Agfa’s error-diffused screening technique and
colour-management software reproduces accurate
contract colour proofs. These digital proofs have a
smooth, continuous-tone quality; they do not show
the coarse image texture that results from screens
used for newspaper printing. Agfa Balanced
Screening makes this possible. It allows newspaper
printers and advertising departments to reproduce
proofs that more accurately represent the look of
the final printed newspaper.
Agfa Acquires Autologic.
Autologic designs, manufactures, markets and services computer-based electronic prepress systems.
The acquisition of Autologic, which was competed
in December 2001, builds on Agfa’s commitment
to develop and market advanced digital prepress
production systems for the publishing and printing
industry. Autologic computer-to-plate (CtP) and
computer-to-film (CtF) systems have earned an
excellent reputation particularly in the newspaper
market in North America. Agfa and Autologic are
committed to combining the best of their individual
expertise to benefit customers in all market
segments. ■
Expanded Plate Facility In US.
Agfa is currently producing N91 digital-imaging
plates and Thermostar thermal plates for commercial use from its newly expanded facility in the
United States.
To commemorate the opening of the new
production line, Robert Stabler, president of Agfa
Graphic Systems U.S. hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony last October in the Branchburg, New Jersey
facility. Joining him for the ceremony were Heikki
Koskimies, president and CEO of Agfa Corporation,
Wilfried Beck, senior vice president, photo
chemical production for the U.S. and Jeff Aurichio,
Branchburg’s plant manager. Other Agfa executives
as well as plant employees also attended. Guests
included a notable assembly of high-ranking industry executives from several printing companies.
In an address to the group, Stabler pledged
Agfa’s ongoing commitment for producing firstquality plates under the highest standards for
quality control. Presentations from plant executives
included an overview of Agfa’s quality-control
process. Ken Margolies, head of quality control
for Branchburg, offered to share the company’s
formula for maintaining the highest ISO ratings
for manufacturing with the printing executives
who attended the opening.
U.S. senior marketing manager for computerto-plate systems, David Furman explained that all
plates made in the Branchburg plant will primarily
serve the North American market and will be
manufactured to meet specific needs of these
printers. ■
Interface is an international publication. Some products and services may not be available in all countries. Please contact your local Agfa dealer or sales office for availability.
ColorTune Pro 4.0 CMS.
This new version of Agfa’s colour-management
software automatically compensates for differences
in colour ranges among input devices, monitor,
printer, proofer and printing press. Because the system can remap the colour space of a monitor and
proofer to match the colour gamut of a specific
press, ColorTune Pro 4.0 delivers end-to-end colour
management and produces accurate hardcopy and
soft proofs.
In addition to creating more accurate colour
blends to precisely match a specific output device,
ColorTune Pro 4.0 maps the colours for a specific
colour gamut. It uses different gamut-mapping
techniques to create profiles for various printing
technologies-gamuts vary in size and shape
depending on specific technology.
The software uses the PANTONE library
to match 85% of Pantone colours. With the
ColorPicker module users can also match a
company logo or any custom colour.
ColorTune’s newly engineered algorithms map
device-specific colour with precision accuracy.
Users can create individual scanner profiles that
accurately reproduce fine shadow detail and colour
subtleties. Output algorithms have also been
re-engineered. Dark colours as well as neutrals
are cleaner and reproduce with greater accuracy.
The new version of ColorTune is also easier
to use. Users can choose a Wizard to guide them
through the application step by step. ■
Error-diffused screening technology can show
moiré that has been recorded during the scanning
process. It cannot, however, show moiré that is
the result of interference between subject detail
and the screen frequency (subject moiré).
Agfa Balanced screening allows to predict
both scan and subject moiré. ■
19
Technology
Marketing
Points of View
Users Profile
Product News
Agfa Acquires 70% Of
Image Building, Co-Developers
Of Agfa Delano.
Image Building bvba is a design and prepress
company located in Antwerp, Belgium and
co-developer with Agfa of Agfa Delano. Agfa
Delano is Web-based, collaborative project
management and communication software for
the printing industry.
Identifying the need for a Web-based project
management system that would improve print
project implementation, follow-up and completion,
Image Building sought the expertise of Agfa, a
leading manufacturer of prepress systems and
workflow software. Agfa Delano has since been
designed in co-operation with Quebecor World who
participated in defining the requirements for the
interactions and processes between the publisher
and the printer, and is currently testing Agfa
Delano.
Agfa Delano will offer design, publishing and
production teams a common workspace where fullspectrum, real-time project information is posted,
tracked, updated, approved, proofed and prepared
for print production—while offering automation
and improved efficiency. It is an open system that
can be integrated with existing design, publishing,
prepress and pressroom workflows, and can
communicate with emerging e-commerce solutions.
Whether or not the members of a project team
use Agfa digital imaging solutions, Agfa Delano will
bring a common set of job management tools and
automation to a print production environment.
The web-based application will be available in
multiple languages. Agfa will be selling, integrating
and supporting the product worldwide in 2002. ■
Palladio 4-Up Violet-Laser
CtP System.
Agfa Palladio is a fully automated, 4-up (B2) flatbed
platesetter designed for small- to medium-sized
printers. A special media cassette keeps 50 plates
online and ready for imaging—eliminating the
need for an operator to manually load each plate.
And the system automatically removes slip sheets.
An optional internal notching system further
automates the process, and enables users to switch
between two notching configurations as required.
Palladio outputs Agfa’s Lithostar LAP-V plates,
a high-sensitivity plate designed for ideal imaging
with the Palladio’s violet laser. The system outputs
plates at 1200, 2400 and 3000 dpi – offering printers the wide range of resolutions they need to meet
the needs of their customers.
Palladio is based on a proven, reliable flatbed
design that enables plates to be stored and imaged
horizontally—a simple approach that ensures
maximum reliability. A precision-engineered
transport system allows the imaging table to move
smoothly across the imaging plane—providing
accurate imaging every time. Plus, the system’s
violet laser diode is extremely reliable, providing
consistent laser output for 7,000+ hours. ■
Palladio 4-Up Violet-Laser CtP System.
SherpaMatic Duplex
Proofing System.
SherpaMatic has a built in alignment mechanism
that automatically turns the paper over in exact
alignment for precise, unattended two sided
proofing. Agfa includes 100-gm dual-coated
imposition proofing media with the SherpaMatic.
Agfa’s new 43-inch duplex proofing system
uses multi-density piezo-electric technology for
contract quality proofing. It prints at 720 x 720-dpi
resolution, and a faster 360 x 360 dpi resolution.
The SherpaMatic prints with error-diffused screening and uses six colours-CMYK plus a light magenta
and a light cyan to achieve a wider colour gamut.
The two extra colours also soften highlights for
better rendition of difficult colours such as flesh
tones. The SherpaMatic’s unique realignment
system ensures precise hair-point registration of
the back to the front. This feature makes it possible
to produce high-quality mock-ups for presentations
or project samples, as well as imposition dummies.
The SherpaMatic prints a 30 x 40-inch duplex
form at 360 dpi in less than 15 minutes.
A specially designed sensor system prevents the
media from telescoping. Because the SherpaMatic
uses a very efficient piezo inkjet system, it conserves ink with no loss in quality. This makes the
system cost efficient to operate and maintain.
Apogee PrintDrive output manager lets users view
and adjust digital films as single pages or full
imposed flats, or flats, then manage their output
to proofers, platesetters, and other devices. In
complement to the SherpaMatic duplex capability,
PrintDrive handles flat positioning (work and turn
and work and tumble workflow) for accurate
proofing of signatures before final output. ■
SherpaMatic Duplex
Proofing System.
t
CtP For The
Smaller Printer.
U.S. Printer Finds Affordable Solution.
Small- and mid-size printers are in the unenviable position of having
to keep up with their larger counterparts. Customers expect them to
produce work of the same quality that the big players can. How is a small
NATIONAL
GRAPHICS
business expected to reliably offer their customers fast imaging speeds
at low prices, when the large companies can afford the highest quality
digital systems? National Graphics, a €5 million printer, found a way to
implement a computer-to-plate (CtP) workflow without going broke.
National Graphics, Inc., a €5 million
printer based in Stoughton, Massachusetts,
was looking for a way to get into CtP as a
way to compete with larger, rival printers.
Customers were coming in and demanding
the quality work they saw being done at
the more expensive printing shops that
had already invested in CtP equipment.
As a small, high-end 4-colour-plus printer,
National Graphics has customers that
require everything, including brochures,
posters, advertising pieces and other marketing collateral. Whether they are dealing
with a small company or a large company,
customers want the best product for their
money.
“We needed an advanced, fully automated,
integrated CtP solution at an affordable
price,” said Fred Moss, National Graphics'
vice president and general manager.
“Agfa's Palladio lets us get the efficiencies
and cost-of-ownership advantages of
violet-imaging technology at a price that’s
helping us save money,” Moss added.
Palladio is based on a flatbed design that
enables plates to be stored and imaged
horizontally—it’s a simple approach
that ensures maximum reliability.
The imaging table moves smoothly
across the imaging plane, thanks to
a precision-engineered transport system,
providing accurate imaging every time.
“Small- to mid-size printers are being
held to higher standards than ever
before and are being asked to output
more jobs per shift. The Palladio offers
them the high performance and reliability
they need to keep pace with their customers' demands," said Frances Cicogna,
Agfa's U.S. marketing manager, CtP
Systems. "Agfa makes transitioning
from a manual to an automated CtP
system easy and worry-free—ensuring
the printer a smooth conversion to
the next generation technology,"
Cicogna added.
Palladio has not only been cost effective
for National Graphics –the savings in
annual film costs and labour savings
are just the beginning– it has also
proven to be extremely reliable. Moss
says he has put the Palladio through
its paces since last September, and it hasn’t
skipped a beat.
“We haven’t made a bad plate, our make
ready times have plummeted and plate
makeovers have disappeared, so our whole
operation has become tremendously more
efficient,” Moss said.
Now National Graphics only has to look in
its rear view mirror to see his competition
way behind.
“Once we went CtP we acquired a little
swagger to our step. Now we’re like the big
guys,” Moss said with a grin. “The Palladio
is extremely well-built. Others look like
they come out of a cereal box,” he added.
While Agfa recognises the role larger
printers play in the world, we also have to
help the smaller players get in on a level
playing field. Small- to mid-size printers
have their own unique problems about
which to worry—how they are going to get
their work done shouldn’t be one of them.
The Palladio fills their needs for getting
into CtP without itself being a burden. ■
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